•  I, 


s 


4-\ 


Yv\  e  x". 


l'2_ 


> 


{  The  American  Church  Missionary  Society ♦ 


The  Beginning  of  the  Cuban  Mission 

A  LETTER 


FROM 


THE  REV,  PEDRO  DUARTE, 


CHURCH  MISSIONS  HOUSE, 

281  FOURTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK  CITY. 


The  Beginning  of  the  Cuban  Mission, 


A  LETTER  FROM  THE  REV.  PEDRO  DUARTE. 


My  Dear  Friends: 


Matanzas,  Cuba, 

San  Juan  de  Dios,  6o, 

March  13,  1900. 


In  all  the  fair  island  of  Cuba,  there  is  no  city  more 
attractive  and  fair  to  look  upon  than  Matanzas.  It  is  beautiful  for  location. 
In  front,  and  east  of  the  city  is  the  beautiful  harbor,  and  far  beyond  lies  the 
wide  expanse  of  sea.  To  the  north  and  west  and  south  are  high  hills,  or, 
in  fact,  a  mountain  range  divided  into  three  sections  by  two.  rivers,  the  San 
Juan  and  the  Yumuri,  which  flow  through  the  city  and  unite  their  waters 
as  they  reach  the  sea.  The  scenery  in  the  San  Juan  and  Yumuri  valleys, 
both  a  short  distance  from  the  city  limits,  is  picturesque  and  grand.  For 
nearly  seventeen  years  the  service  and  w’ork  of  the  Master  in  this  fair  city, 
which  God  in  nature  hath  so  richly  blessed,  has  been  in  my  heart  and  mind 
night  and  day.  In  July,  1883,  through  the  earnest  effort  of  Mr,  John  P. 
Rhoads,  of  Philadelphia,  who  has  ever  been  to  me  a  faithful  and  wise  friend, 
I  was  sent  to  Matanzas  as  a  colporteur  of  the  Bible  Society  of  New  York. 
Being  then  a  candidate  for  Holy  Orders  under  Bishop  Stevens,  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  I  was  also  licensed  to  act  as  lay  reader.  The  first  service  of  the 
Episcopal  Church  w'as  held  in  Matanzas,  August  5,  1883.  After  four  months 
spent  in  Matanzas,  sow’ing  the  precious  seed  of  the  Gospel  and  laying  deep 
the  foundation  for  our  beloved  Church,  I  returned  to  Philadelphia  in  order 
to  pursue  my  studies  at  the  Theological  Seminary  in  that  city.  In  January, 
1885,  w'as  ordained  Deacon  in  the  Church  of  the  Covenant,  Philadelphia, 
and  was  sent  at  once  to  Cuba  ;  the  ladies  of  the  Cuba  Guild  in  that  city 
being  pledged  for  my  support.  During  my  absence  of  two  years  the  Rev^ 
Juan  B.  Bres,  of  Florida,  now  at  rest  in  Paradise,  had  kept  up  the  services 
of  the  Church  in  Matanzas.  Without  delay  work  w^as  resumed  by  me,  and 
regular  services  were  maintained  in  Matanzas,  and  also  in  Havana  and 
Bolondron,  where,  through  God’s  grace,  I  had  been  helpful  in  planting 
Missions.  February  24,  1895 — the  date  of  the  last  Cuban  revolution — 
personal  safety  required  the  departure  of  self  and  family  from  Cuba.  On 


December  15,  1898 — the  war  between  Spain  and  the  United  States  being- 
ended — we  were  enabled  to  return  to  our  native  land.  The  work  of  our 
Church  among  the  Cuban  people  was  again  taken  up  in  Bolondron,  Havana 
and  Matanzas,  and  has  been,  since  then,  uniformly  successful  and  signally, 
blessed.  Time  will  not  allow  me  to  dwell  at  length  upon  the  good  and 
grand  work  done  by  the  Rev.  Manuel  F.  Moreno  at  Bolondron.  Senor  Jose 
R.  Pena,  a  lay  reader  and  a  candidate  for  Holy  Orders,  has  been  both  faith¬ 
ful  and  efficient  in  helping  to  maintain  the  Spanish  services  in  Havana  and 
Jesus  del  Monte,  a  suburb  of  Havana.  It  was  my  good  fortune,  shortly 
after  my  return  to  Matanzas,  to  be  helpful  in  the  relief  of  the  reconcen- 
trados.  General  Wilson,  the  Military  Governor  of  the  Province  of  Matan¬ 
zas,  kindly  allowed  me  the  privilege  of  aiding  in  the  distribution  of  rations 
made  by  the  American  government  to  our  poor,  suffering  people  who  had 
been  driven  by  the  Spanish  soldiers  from  their  homes  in  the  country  into 
the  towns  and  cities  of  Cuba  under  Spanish  control,  without  work  and 
without  food,  to  die  of  starvation.  Doctor  F.  M.  Fernandez  and  I  found 
lying  in  the  streets  of  Bolondron,  thirty-two  children,  boys  and  girls,  almost 
at  the  point  of  death  from  starvation.  We  at  once  took  steps  to  relieve 
their  great  distress,  and  finally  succeeded  in  placing  them  in  an  old  house 
that  had  been  a  Spanish  fort,  supporting  them  there  on  the  rations  so  gener¬ 
ally  furnished  by  the  United  States.  Clothing,  shoes  and  medicine  were 
sent  to  me  for  distribution  by  charitable  Church  people  in  Philadelphia, 
New  York  and  other  points.  We  now  realize  the  great  need  of  a  perma¬ 
nent  home  or  Orphanage  for  the  proper  care  and  guardianship  of  young 
Cuban  girls.  The  American  Church  Missionary  Society,  in  charge  of  and 
supporting  the  work  in  Cuba  almost  from  its  inception,  responded  at  once 
to  this  pressing  need.  The  result  has  been  the  purchase  and  partial  equip¬ 
ment  of  such  an  asylum  or  Orphanage  in  Matanzas,  which  was  dedicated 
by  Bishop  Whitaker,  Sunday,  January  28,  1900.  Fifty  girls,  varying  in  age 
from  four  to  fifteen,  will  now  be  well  taken  care  of  and  trained  up  in  the 
way  that  leadeth  to  life.  Many  girls  are  being  brought  to  me  daily,  and 
my  heart  yearns  for  them,  but,  as  w^e  have  fifty  girls  enrolled  already  which 
tests  our  present  ability,  I  am  forced  to  answer,  to  the  most  piteous  appeals, 
that  no  more  can  be  taken  in  the  Orphanage.  Would  that  some  faithful 
steward,  whom  God  hath  blessed,  could  see  our  Orphanage  girls  all  dressed 
in  wdiite  and  wearing  broad  sashes  with  the  name  of  the  Orphanage  inscribed 
thereon,  in  most  reverent  attendance  at  our  Church  services — English  as 
well  as  Spanish  !  The  sight  of  their  pure,  sweet,  young  faces  as  they 
worship  would  surely  make  a  deep  impression,  and  then  God  might  open 
the  way  to  a  further  enlargement  of  our  work  to  save  these  immortal  souls. 
Another  story  added  to  the  Orphanage,  and  we  have  good  strong  walls  now 
to  build  on,  would  give  ample  room  and  we  could  then  care  for  more  than 
double  our  present  number  of  young  Cuban  girls.  Two  blocks  from  the 
Orphanage  is  the  rectory  and  the  little  Church,  practically  under  one  roof. 


4 


where  a  free  day  school  of  178  children,  and  a  Sunday  School  and  Sunday 
services  are  maintained.  There  is  also  a  service  in  English  every  Sunday 
morning.  Kindly  allow  me  to  state  what  help  and  encouragement  have 
come  to  me  from  my  dear  wife,  who  has  ever  been  at  my  side  and  has  more 
than  shared  my  sorrows  and  my  trials.  And  my  dear  daughter,  who  was, 
as  it  were,  my  right  hand  in  all  my  work,  six  months  ago,  at  the  age  of 
22,  entered  into  that  rest  which  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God.  The 
wound  in  my  heart  will  only  be  healed  when,  in  God’s  own  time,  the  glad 
re-union  shall  come  with  the  loved  one  gone  before.  Our  kind  friends, 
to  whom  we  are  so  grateful,  have  dedicated  the  Orphanage  in  Matanzas  to 
her  precious  memory.  With  grateful  appreciation,  your 


Servant  in  Christ, 


Pedro  Duarte. 


